A wide range of video content is available online. Consumers can readily obtain full-length motion pictures, broadcast television programs, cable or satellite television programs, home movies, music videos, and user-created content (UCC) from an ever-growing number of online repositories, databases, and other content providers. This continual increase in the amount of video content available online has resulted in a corresponding increase in popularity of websites providing video-on-demand streaming services such as YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, And iTunes. Content providers such as these have immense content repositories comprising thousands of video segments contributed by users ranging from amateur videographers to professional production companies. Because the quality of the available content varies greatly, rating systems have been developed to help consumers make informed content selections. One common rating system is a star-based rating system, wherein viewers can rate content items manually by selecting from one to five stars (or other rating units). These individual ratings are then combined, averaged, or otherwise aggregated to provide an overall content rating that, in theory, reflects the popularity of a particular content item. In principle, these content ratings not only inform consumer decisions, but they also enable sponsors and content providers to recommend popular content items and make predictions with respect to content that might interest a particular user. Because individual preferences often play a significant role in content ratings, content providers have often sought to personalize their rating systems as much as possible. Thus many content providers require user authentication before content ratings are accepted. Such rating systems have been implemented in conjunction with a wide range of digital content, including audio and video content.